


The Otter Whisperer

by C31PO (SirenAlpha)



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Animal Transformation, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-22
Updated: 2018-08-02
Packaged: 2019-02-05 08:16:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12790473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SirenAlpha/pseuds/C31PO
Summary: Ryan makes a solid attempt at being Connor's ottersitter.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted content for this ship, and I wanted it to be on the fluff side of life, and I was like otters are cute so here we are.

Ryan notices what’s going to happen a moment before it actually happens. New light of the hockey world, Connor McDavid, stares out wide eyed at a crush of hockey reporters who are practically pushing him back into his stall. Ryan has plenty of sympathy for him. Everyone has to go through their first night of post-game media if they want to be in the NHL. He’s sure McDavid has plenty of experience with media, but he can still see it coming. 

He’s about the only one not surprised when McDavid disappears. The reporters finally back away from the stall, some of them cursing in surprise. Other players start laughing at them, quickly working out what had happened. Nobody else looks like they’re going to do anything so Ryan rolls his eyes then gets up even though he’s only half undressed. 

“Excuse me,” he says, gently nudging reporters out of the way to get to McDavid’s stall. 

He starts padding through McDavid’s gear which is all piled on the floor because McDavid didn’t actually disappear. He just got small really quickly. He hears a muffled squeaking noise, and he goes for the Under Armour shirt McDavid had been wearing. He finds an otter trapped in its sleeve. 

“I got you,” Ryan says, carefully pulling the shirt off the otter. 

The otter, McDavid, chirps irritably at him. 

“I don’t know what you want, man,” Ryan says shrugging.

The otter pads forward toward him. He gets his paws on the hand Ryan has on the ground and presses on it repeatedly. Ryan cautiously reaches out and pets him. McDavid chirps and paws at wrist like he’s not satisfied. 

“Okay,” he says, and then gingerly picks the otter up. McDavid keeps mostly still so that must be what he wants. Ryan has no idea what the right way to hold an otter is so he just does his best.

The trainers and equipment managers are already frightening the media into behaving; meaning getting them out of the room and warning them not to publish anything about McDavid suddenly becoming an otter. Most sports teams had some kind of mascot problems even down to high school teams so while known it was still considered very taboo to post anything of a person’s animal form without explicit consent. McDavid had already handed down a no publishing request to the media through the team. 

Ryan doesn’t know what to do with the otter version of McDavid so he sets him in his stall while he finishes undressing. McDavid chirps and fidgets and paws at him, clearly unhappy about it. “I’m happy to get out of the media, but I still don’t know what you want, dude,” Ryan says when he pauses in his routine to pet otter McDavid. 

Ryan goes to shower, and McDavid follows after him. “Can someone please watch him?” he asks, but the other guys are completely fine with laughing at him rather than trying to help out. 

As soon as Ryan turns on the shower, Otter McDavid gets underneath its spray. Ryan carefully tries to nudge him out of the way with his feet, but McDavid just skirts around him to get right back under the water. Ryan sighs and gets in the shower anyways because he’s not going home gross even if it’s definitely not comfortable to have a teammate down between his legs while showering. Who knows how well McDavid remembers his stints as an otter. 

He then nearly trips over McDavid and almost has a heart attack. It’s one thing to have his feet on the shower floor and another entirely for his bare ass to be on the floor when he knows exactly how nasty every other man who uses the showers are. He picks McDavid up, hoping his soap isn’t toxic to otters. “You need to stop. Can you please let me shower?”

McDavid doesn’t seem to understand that this is a punishment and chirps happily and tries to squirm his way towards the full spray of the shower. Ryan sighs and accepts that he’s just not going to get a full shower in. He holds McDavid away from himself and the shower, and lets the spray wash whatever soap it can off him. 

When he shuts the shower off McDavid starts whining at him. He gets even louder when Ryan sets him down so he can towel off. He tries to climb Ryan’s leg, and his nails dig in. “Ouch,” Ryan tells him. “I won’t carry you if you keep scratching me.”

McDavid whines again and falls back like he’s been shot. Ryan rolls his eyes because McDavid’s apparently a dramatic little otter. He wraps his towel around himself then picks McDavid up again.

“Looks like you’re heading back with me and Gaz,” Hallsy says when he gets back into the locker room. 

“Why would I do that?” Ryan asks, trying to get dressed while otter McDavid plays with his tie. 

“Someone has to hold kid wonder while I drive home,” Hallsy says. “And he clearly likes you best.”

“Fuck that, you’re the one that’s supposed to be taking care of him,” he says, annoyed because he’s losing a game of tug of war with an otter and he kind of just wants to go home. 

“I’m not carrying him. He looks like a rat.”

He sighs. “Fine, you weenie. I’ll take care of your rookie since you’re too scared to touch him.”

“He’s fine when he’s human, but who knows when he’ll be back to that.”

Ryan rolls his eyes and gives up on his tie. McDavid is halfway to ruining it anyways. He packs up his stuff, picks McDavid up again, and follows Hallsy out to his car. He gets squirmy once they’re in the car, yapping away at him and Hallsy. 

“Can you please calm him down?” Hallsy asks. “I’m trying to drive, and he is very distracting.”

“I’m trying. I don’t know where the fuck he’s getting all this energy from.”

McDavid is pretty slippery, normal for an otter, and gets over the console before Ryan can stop him. Hallsy shrieks when McDavid noses at his arm and nearly swerves off the road. “Nuge! Please!”

“I got him,” Ryan says, picking up McDavid and pulling him away from Hallsy. He hugs McDavid tight to his chest to keep a grip on him and prevent him from squirming away. He makes noises somewhat like a growl so Ryan pets him to calm him. It sort of works. He still wriggles around some, but he stops making growling sounds. 

“Okay,” Hallsy says once he’s pulling into the driveway. “Now we just need to get him inside.”

“Yeah, that’s all,” Ryan says, rolling his eyes. 

“I can’t help it if his little rat body freaks me out. He’s not as easy to deal with transformed as you are.”

“Whatever, can you at least open my door for me so he doesn’t escape?”

“Got it,” Hallsy says as he gets up. 

He shuts his door then goes around to Ryan’s side and opens his door. He gets up carefully, making sure to keep his grip on McDavid. He goes right back to squeaking loudly once they’re outside. 

“He’s never that loud when he’s human,” Hallsy says, shutting Ryan’s door. 

“Maybe this is why,” Ryan suggests as he follows Hallsy up to the house. “He just gets it all out in otter form.”

“Well that’s dumb.”

Hallsy unlocks the door and motions for Ryan to go in ahead of him.

“Can I put him down now?” Ryan asks once Hallsy’s shut the door. McDavid quiets and switches to sniffing.

“What if you just continued to hold him?” Hallsy asks, still eyeing McDavid warily. 

“He’s an otter, not out to kill you.”

“What about putting him in his room then?”

Ryan goes to open his mouth then McDavid bonks his head into his cheek. He puts his hand up to push his head away, and McDavid starts whining. “I don’t know if that’s a great idea. He might not be able to get to you for help then.”

“But I don’t want him to get to me at all,” he says, and he sounds as whiny as the otter. 

“You’re useless.”

“Hey! I was plenty helpful to you when you shifted.”

“You opened a door, Hallsy. Then you left me out in the cold.”

“You had a winter coat,” he points out. 

Ryan puts McDavid down on the ground as that’s the most pointed fuck you he has at the moment. Hallsy gasps and runs down the hall when McDavid takes a step in his direction. McDavid chirps at him, and Ryan likes to think he’s saying yeah, you better run. 

“Can you please just take care of him for tonight?” Hallsy asks, and Ryan only listens because he does seem genuinely distressed. “I’ll pay you back.”

“Oh, you’ll pay me back?” Ryan asks. “Well, I guess if you’re offering.”

“Don’t go crazy with it, Nuge,” Hallsy says. “It’s just one night of dealing with otter boy. He’s nice to you anyways.”

Ryan had noticed that, what with McDavid circling his feet like he’d turned into a cat now. “Fine, I’ll take care of your rookie for you.”

“Stop giving me that judgey tone. I can’t help that he’s an otter,” he whines. 

“Whatever,” he says, and picks McDavid up. “Where’s his room?”

“Upstairs on the left,” Hallsy answers. “I thought you weren’t locking him in there.”

“I’m going to be there with him because you’re an incompetent ottersitter.”

Hallsy frowns at him. “You can borrow his clothes then instead of mine.”

“Fine,” he says, carrying McDavid upstairs. He doubts an otter would care too much about him borrowing a pair of sweatpants. 

As soon as Ryan gets into the room, McDavid starts chirping and squeaking wildly again. “I can’t tell if you’re excited to be home or you just want to get down,” Ryan tells him.

He sets McDavid on the bed, and he starts rubbing himself all over the covers. Ryan laughs because he looks like a very wiggly noodle. McDavid whines at him. Ryan responds by giving him a good belly rub which just seems to make him wriggle more. 

Ryan leaves him be to hunt up some clean sweatpants. It takes him a while to find where McDavid keeps his sweatpants because he assumes all the ones on the floor are dirty. He undresses once he finds a clean pair and carefully places his suit where it hopefully won’t get chewed up by an otter. He pulls on the sweatpants and realizes that they’re clean because they are not soft, fuzzy sweatpants, but rough, worn out sweatpants. Ryan regrets not being nicer to Hallsy just a little bit. 

McDavid must be able to smell that the sweatpants are his because as soon as Ryan sits down on the bed he switches to being wriggly in his lap. He claws at the sweatpants, too.

“Ow,” Ryan says, even though it doesn’t hurt that much. “You shouldn’t claw me. I’ve been nice to you this whole time. If it’s about the sweatpants, I agree, but you're the one who decided to keep them.”

McDavid makes an upset noise then huffs and finally settles down. Ryan gives him scratches until they’re both yawning. McDavid sluggishly pulls himself out of Ryan’s lap then wiggles his way under the covers. 

Ryan takes that as his cue and turns off the light, and he gets under the comforter only. McDavid refuses to settle until he has physical contact with him. 

“Please be human in the morning,” Ryan mumbles to him right before falling asleep. “I’m not a good otter babysitter. You’re much smaller than a deer. You’re gonna get lost.”

Ryan wakes in the middle of the night to movement that seems like too much for an otter to make. “Davo?” he asks, not even bothering to open his eyes. 

“Sorry,” Davo says. 

Ryan wants to go right back to sleep, but he still remembers what you’re supposed to check after someone transforms back. One too many nights of teammates turning back from being deer in juniors will do that to you. “Do you remember?”

“Yeah,” he answers, and Ryan can feel him shuffling around again. “Most of it.”

“Didn’t eat anything bad?” he asks, and really hopes they don’t have to go to the emergency room. “I didn’t see anything but otters are slippery.”

He huffs out a laugh. “No, I’m good.”

“Anything else?”

Davo doesn’t say anything for long enough that Ryan opens his eyes and looks. It takes him a moment to adjust to the darkness. Davo’s looking back at him, frowning a little bit like he’s confused. 

“Thanks, Ryan,” he says finally.

Ryan makes a noise of acknowledgement then closes his eyes and tries to curl back up to sleep. His legs run into Davo’s. Davo shifts, moving his legs out of the way, then puts his arm around Ryan’s waist. Ryan thinks it’s a funny leftover from being an otter and falls back asleep.

Ryan wakes in the morning when Davo’s alarm goes off. Davo grumbles and reaches over Ryan to shut it off. He sits up after that and his hair is a fluffy mess. He yawns, ruffles his own hair, then asks Ryan, “You gonna get up?”

Ryan sighs heavily because mornings aren’t really his favorite then rolls out of Davo’s bed. It’s cold but he can deal with it. He gives Davo a nod then leaves the room, making sure to shut the door behind him, to give him some space. He makes his way back to the kitchen to start coffee and make himself a bowl of cereal. 

Hallsy comes down before Davo, and laughs when he sees Ryan. “Good ol’ morning Nuge.”

Hallsy hugs him from behind and Ryan makes an irritated noise at him because his mouth is full of cereal and Hallsy knows he doesn’t like people before coffee. “Good ol’ grumpy Nuge.”

Ryan glares at him as he goes to get his own bowl of cereal. Davo comes down soon after that, not paying any mind to the staring contest Hallsy keeps losing to Ryan while they eat cereal. “Morning,” he says because he’s young enough not to be addicted to coffee and need it for morning functioning. 

“Morning,” Hallsy says, waking up a little more now that he has more than Ryan for mental stimulation.

Thankfully, the coffee finishes brewing and Ryan can get himself a large mug of the stuff. He even pours one for Hallsy because he still kind of regrets not getting to borrow his sweatpants and wants the option back. “So now you’re being nice to me,” Hallsy says when Ryan passes him a mug. 

Ryan rolls his eyes and starts sipping at his coffee. 

“Anyways, I was thinking that since I’m apparently deathly afraid of otters because they look like rats-,” Davo shoots Hallsy an offended glare, “-that maybe Nuge can just take care of you if you ever go otter again. I think that would be safest for everyone since you did nearly cause me to run off the road.”

Davo considers it for a moment then says, “Yeah, I’m okay with that if Nuge is.”

Ryan sends him a smile and tries not to feel like he’s just been gifted with something special. It’s not everyday someone says they trust you to take care of them in their animal form, but this could also just be something practical between teammates. Ryan drinks more of his coffee and tells himself not to think too hard about it. 

Davo’s still looking at him though. “Are you okay? You haven’t said anything all morning.”  

Hallsy laughs, obnoxious and loud. “He’s fine. He just hates mornings. He’s like an old computer. It takes him a half hour to boot up.”

“And I run on coffee,” Ryan adds. 

Hallsy and Davo laugh. “There,” Hallsy says. “He deigns to speak.”

“So, you’re good with taking care of me?” Davo asks, and he starts to flush as he adds on, “Otter me, anyways.”

“Yeah,” Ryan says, nodding. “I’m good.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have half an idea for a second chapter that would be more romantic-ish and cover their injuries, but who knows if I'll get to it. So for now, oneshot it is. Hope you enjoyed!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this took way longer than I expected it to....

Ryan sighs heavily then calls the number he’d saved to his phone hoping to never actually use.

“Hello?” Dylan Strome asks cautiously from the other end.

“Hi, it’s Nugent-Hopkins,” he says, switching to his professional calling someone voice. “McDavid told me to call you if I had any problems with his otter form and that he told you I might call.”

“Yep,” Strome says, still speaking slowly. “You can call him Davo. I’ll still know who he is. Are you having an otter problem?”

“Yes,” Ryan says biting back on three different versions of a snippy response. “You know about Davo’s injury, right?”

“Yeah, broke his collar bone,” Strome says, seeming to finally warm up to the conversation. “I talked to him about it the day after.”

“Well, he turned into an otter sometime after that, and he didn’t turn back during the night. I’ve got him covered for the basics, but I can’t find anything about how to take care of an otter’s broken collar bone.”

“I’m not a vet, you know.”

“Yeah, if I wanted a vet, I’d have called them. Actually, I have Hallsy looking for one near us. What I want to know is if you have any idea on when Davo might turn human again. We leave soon for a roadie, and he’s not coming with, human or not. I can’t leave him here as an otter. I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t survive that long on his own.”

Davo whines pitifully from his spot on the couch. Ryan sighs and move closer to the couch to pet his head. He quiets, but still looks up at Ryan with big, sad eyes.

“Well,” Strome says, drawing out the word. “Davo hasn’t been injured too many times. He pretty much spent his whole time out with the broken hand as an otter. Didn’t seem to mess up his healing any.”

“Okay, but he can’t do that this time. He needs thumbs and to not be a foot tall. So what do I do?”

“Just take care of him? He’ll turn back when he absolutely has to so probably when you have to leave. Otherwise the best you can do is the usual. Make him calm and fix whatever’s bugging him.”

“Okay, thanks,” he says then hangs up because that was completely unhelpful and he probably shouldn’t say that right to one of Davo’s friends. He really would fix whatever was bugging Davo except he’s 90% sure it’s his broken collar bone which he can’t fix. He shoves his phone into his pocket and looks at Davo. He’d really just wanted some sort of Davo cheat that’d get him human immediately.

Davo whines again, reaching for Ryan’s hand with his good arm. Ryan starts petting him again and giving him scratches. He makes a happier whining noise then.

“Yeah, I get it. You’re a very needy otter,” Ryan tells him.

Davo chirps at him, like that’s going to make Ryan think he’s not needy.

“Otters are way more high maintenance than deer. We don’t want cuddles, don’t need play time, and don’t eat random shit off the floor because we’re not small enough to give a shit about little things like wrappers that missed the garbage can,” Ryan says, still pissed about having to try and pry plastic out of Davo’s mouth. That had certainly been an adventure and a half. Thank god none of his junior teammates had ever eaten anything suspicious because nothing and no one could convince him to put his fingers near a deer’s mouth.

Davo whines, lowering his head.

“Yeah, I don’t know where your human brain was on that one either.”

Davo chirps when Ryan stops petting him. Ryan sighs and picks Davo up off the couch, careful of his injured collar bone. He takes a seat on the couch and places Davo in his lap. Davo rolls over onto his back and wriggles around until he’s comfortable. He still chirps at Ryan so Ryan rubs his belly.  “High maintenance.”

“Nuge,” Hallsy whines, joining him on the couch. “I can’t find any vets that do otters. The last receptionist told me I was an idiot and to get Davo to a real doctor.”

“Yeah, Davo’s friend wasn’t that helpful either.”

Davo chirps loudly at him like he’s defending Strome’s honor. Hallsy jumps at the noise then retreats from the couch. “Why didn’t you tell me you had him on your lap?”

“Where else would he be?” Ryan asks. “He yells whenever I leave him alone.”

“You could have put him on the ground where he belongs,” Hallsy says darkly.

Davo makes a whiny irritated noise at Hallsy.

“It’s too late, Hallsy,” Ryan says. “He’s already contaminated the whole couch.”

“Fine, I’ll just make him vacuum it when he turns human again,” Hallsy says, putting his hands on his hips.

“Give it a rest. It’s not like you’re allergic to him. You don’t even turn into any of the animals he eats.”

Hallsy narrows his eyes at McDavid. “Still doesn’t stop me from getting creeped out.”

Davo chirps and rolls over so he has his back to Hallsy.

“I think you deserve a little scarring anyways, Hallsy,” Ryan tells him as he rubs Davo’s back.

“What, why?”

“Cause you’re scarring me by making me take care of Davo while he’s got his balls hanging out.”

“Dude!” Hallsy says, covering his face. “Don’t say that! You’re supposed to ignore that type of shit out of respect.”

Davo also makes a very offended whining noise.

“I can’t, they’re right there! Sorry, Davo, but it’s true. That’s how otters are. I’d put pants on you if they made them for otters.”

Davo chirps at him again, covering his face with his hands like Hallsy did.

“If you were human, you could wear pants, problem solved.”

“You just want us all traumatized?” Hallsy asks.

“No, just you. Davo’s already got himself covered.”

Davo makes a growling noise and tries to cover his face more.

“Yeah, don’t think I forgot about you trying to take up my shower. That was scarring enough for the both of us,” Ryan tells him.

“Is it really that big a problem?” Hallsy asks. “They’re aquatic, aren’t they supposed to be streamlined?”

“They’re not streamlined enough,” Ryan says, and then Davo nips his finger. “Ow.”

“I think you deserve it,” Hallsy says. “See if I call anymore vets for you.”

“It’s not for me, it’s for Davo,” Ryan says as Hallsy leaves the room.

Davo chirps and starts pawing at Ryan with his good foreleg.

“I’m not gonna hold your hand if you’re gonna be mean to me.”

Davo snuffles and curls up as best he can against Ryan while he’s down a leg and does his utmost to look cute. Ryan sighs, giving him his hand to hold onto and letting him rest his head on his arm. “Still gotta go back to being human sometime.”

Davo whines and buries his face against Ryan’s arm.

“You wanna go back to playing hockey, don’t you?”

He chirps again, but pulls his head out from where he’d tucked it away. Ryan sighs and rubs his back. “You can stay an otter for the rest of the day if you really, really want to, but I’d feel a lot more comfortable if you went back to being human well before me and Hallsy have to leave.”

Davo doesn’t do anything which seems pretty standard for otter Davo. He doesn’t care about schedules at all. Ryan leans back against the couch and lets him nap on him anyways, pulling out his phone to occupy himself with. Davo shuffles around in his sleep and ends up with half his body off Ryan’s lap and his head squished up against Ryan’s arm.

“How are you even comfortable like that?” Ryan whispers, wishing Erie had named their team after more normal animals.

Of course, once the nap is over, Davo is running around the house on three legs, scaring the living daylights out of Hallsy and running Ryan ragged trying to keep things from breaking in his wake. To add insult to injury, he only shifts back to human in the middle of the night like he did the first time, waking Ryan up when he already has to get up early for a plane ride.

“I hate you a lot right now,” Ryan says groggily.

“Sorry, it’s, sorry,” Davo says, fidgeting under the covers and not at all making Ryan feel forgiving. “I remember it all, and thank you for saving me from eating plastic.”

“Okay,” Ryan says, trying really hard to keep his eyes open because this is an important conversation. “You good?”

“Yeah, though, if it’s any consolation, my shoulder does not feel great.”

“Told you not to run around as an otter. I didn’t hang out as a deer when I injured my shoulder.”

“Sorry, it’s just easier as an otter, y’know?”

“Davo, lemme sleep. I gotta get up in the morning.”

“Sorry, sorry.”

Davo must still be in otter mode because the apology includes him curling up around Ryan and using his good hand to check over Ryan’s head and back. Ryan may have protested if he were more awake, but he falls asleep instead.

Ryan’s alarm goes off far too soon, and he groans deeply because if he has to deal with whiny otter Davo, Davo can listen to his soul leaving his body. “Sorry,” Davo whispers to him again.

Ryan doesn’t want to move, but he forces himself to sit up and turn off his alarm. “Is it alright if I turn on a light?”

“Yeah, I can sleep after.”

Ryan turns on the bedside lamp and starts getting ready to leave. He expected Davo to fall right back asleep, but he catches him watching him as finishes getting dressed. He doesn’t even look away when Ryan sends him a questioning glance. He wonders how much Davo’d seen and if it matters that he has. Ryan looks away instead and finishes up his packing.

Before he leaves the room, though, he goes back to the bed and pulls the covers up over Davo because apparently even if he was awake enough to watch Ryan, he wasn’t awake enough to pull up the covers after being half exposed when Ryan had gotten out of bed. Ryan ruffles his hair for good measure. “Don’t turn into an otter while we’re gone.”

“Okay,” he mumbles, curling up now that he has the covers over him.

Ryan rolls his eyes because human Davo is apparently as ridiculous as otter Davo. 

The roadie really isn’t anything to write home about. Halfway through though he realizes he left some things at Hallsy’s house. Hallsy just sighs when he tells him and puts a hand on his shoulder, “I’ve always gotta be looking after you.”

“Since when have you ever looked after me?” Ryan asks, rolling his eyes.

“I was a great mentor to you, and you know it,” he says.

“Yeah, just like you’re great at taking care of Davo as an otter.”

“Hey, that is completely different. I can’t help it if I have an irrational fear. That’s why it’s called irrational.”

“Fine,” he says and let’s it drop.

“We’re back,” Hallsy says when he gets the door to his house open. He leads the way into the living room. Davo takes one look at them and turns right back into an otter.

“Oh my fucking god,” Ryan says as Hallsy jumps back into the wall. He feels so exhausted, but he is also one hundred percent certain that Davo will end up dead if he leaves him with Hallsy. “I’m taking you home because I’m not leaving Sophie home alone for another night and I’m sure my dog sitter already hates me.”

Ryan ends up finding a towel and swaddles Davo up in it so he can’t run around in the car while Ryan is driving. Davo yowls and screams at him the whole time even though Ryan’s explained the whole thing to him and even gives him some extra petting. He just gets bitten for his troubles. Davo only calms down once Ryan picks him up and holds him like a baby while making soothing shushing sounds. 

“Ugh,” Hallsy says, completely unnecessarily. “It’s like you’re cuddling a baby rat.”

“Hallsy, I will fucking murder you if you upset him now,” he tells him while keeping to his light, soothing town. Davo, thankfully, only whines once before settling down again.

Ryan gathers the things he had left in his free hand and then heads out to his car and to his own home. Sophie and his dog sitter greet him at the door.

“Is that an otter?” his dog-sitter asks, eying Davo. “Wrapped up like a baby?”

“Yeah, it’s a teammate. Can’t trust him loose in a car,” he says, being nice and not adding on other things Davo is. Sophie stops trying to jump on him when she notices Davo and starts sniffing at him and the towel he’s in.

He finishes with his dog-sitter before setting Davo down and unwrapping him from the towel. Sophie begins nosing at him again. Davo shrinks back towards Ryan.

“Careful, Sophie,” Ryan says, petting her head and keeping her back from Davo. “He’s hurt. You have to be gentle. Gentle.”

She gives a small woof and noses at Davo. Davo squeaks back at her. Sophie decides she likes him, barking once before shifting into a playful position. Davo looks at him then back at Sophie.

“You can play with her if you want,” Ryan assures him. “I might finally be able to get some shit done if you do.”

Sophie must sense Davo’s reluctance and she runs off to grab one of her stuffed toys and places it before him. Ryan laughs as Davo pokes at it with his good fore paw like he expects it to bite him. “Have fun,” he tells them, petting them both on the head before leaving to unpack.

He can hear them both running around and ‘talking’ to each other as he makes his way through the chores he’d left off while having to look after Davo. He finds it weird that he has a teammate running around with his dog, but there are worse ways of keeping an injured otter occupied. It’s a bit of an issue later when Ryan has to feed them both and Sophie is more interested in Davo’s food than her own. He ends up having to set Davo up with his food in the middle of the table where Sophie can’t reach and having her whine at him the whole way through dinner.

“I’m sorry, but you can’t eat his food. He has to eat, too.”

Davo also eats like an obnoxious asshole while he’s an otter which doesn’t help anything. He picks up his food with his good fore paw and chews away at it loudly. The only reason Ryan doesn’t tell him off for it is that he’s pretty sure otters can’t chew with their mouths closed.

Davo turns back in the middle of the night again. He doesn’t move this time, changing back to human without waking. Ryan only notices because he had been pressed up against his back, and Ryan couldn’t not notice that size and weight change. Ryan’s half tempted to fall back asleep, but this has gone on long enough

“Davo,” he says, and he can feel him shift. “Connor.”

“Hm?” he says, and rolls away from Ryan with a sigh.

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah, just tired,” he says, already shifting back into place against Ryan.

Ryan sighs and turns on the bedside lamp. Davo makes an unhappy noise and ducks his head down further into the pillow. Ryan wants to do the same when he catches a glimpse at the time.

“Connor,” he says, tapping at him. He doesn’t move to give him room to roll over, but Ryan rolls over anyways. Connor doesn’t meet his eyes and pulls the sheets up around his face. “It’s not normal to spend so much time in your animal form and be only able to change back when you’re dead asleep. I told you I’d take care of you, now, seriously, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” he insists, mumbling into the sheets. “It’s just stress, rookie year, injury, all of that stuff.”

“No, it isn’t,” Ryan says, pulling the covers away from his face. “I’ve done all that, but I only spent a few hours at most as a deer my rookie year. And maybe you’ve got it a little worse than I did with all the comparisons to Crosby, but this is still a lot of time as an otter. You’re still injured.”

Connor doesn’t say anything for a long time, and Ryan waits. Then he says, “You’re from around here, right?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I’m not, okay? Everyone I know’s far away from here. I don’t have any of my guys with me. I was handling it pretty good until I got hurt, but now it just seems like even you guys are gone more often than you’re here. At least when I’m an otter, I know you’ll be here.”

“Connor,” Ryan says and he has to take another breath with how much he knows that feeling and how much it hurts. “You don’t have to be an otter for me to hang out with you. You can ask when you’re human. That’s one of the nice things about being able to speak.”

“It’s not just hanging out,” he says sullenly, and even in the soft, weak light of Ryan’s bedside lamp he can see him blushing. “You treat me different when I’m an otter.”

“Yeah, ‘cause you’re only a foot tall and whine all the time,” he says, going for teasing because he’s genuinely unsure as to what Connor’s trying to get at.

“Yeah,” Connor agrees quietly then he pulls the covers back over the lower half of his face. “But that’s how I’d like to be treated.”

Ryan sighs. “I think you picked the wrong guy to be friends with then. I’m not really much of a cuddler.”

Connor doesn’t say anything to that. Just looks at him like he’s willing him to understand. Ryan figures he’s not going to get anything more out of him so he turns and shuts the light off again.

He takes a deep breath in and wonders if he might regret this then lets it out and says quietly into the darkness, “You can if you want to.”

Connor must hesitate because it’s a few moments before Connor presses up against him like he had as an otter. Only difference is he also puts an arm around Ryan’s waist. Ryan shifts, but only to make the position more comfortable. It doesn’t take much time for Connor to relax and fall back asleep.

“I’m sorry things are still like this,” Ryan says, still thinking on how hard it was his rookie year. It’s better, but apparently not enough if the treasured first overall rookie keeps turning into an otter to get comfort and company.

It’s thankfully an off day so Ryan can sleep as late as he needs to make up for the midnight conversation. He still wakes before Connor. He doesn’t move because it seems like Connor needs the sleep and he’s still cuddled up close to him.

He wakes subtly just with a change in his breath. Ryan knows he’s awake enough for conversation when he starts moving his hand over Ryan’s chest like he’s tracing over a pattern only he can see.

“Are you good?” Ryan asks, and Connor freezes.

“Sorry,” he says, pulling his hand away and tucking it against himself. It still leaves it against Ryan.

“You don’t have to apologize.”

He does nothing for a moment then quietly asks, “Do you have to get up?”

“No, we can stay.”

“Okay.”

Ryan isn’t sure what Connor gets out of them just lying there, but he hopes it’s something good. Connor’s warm against him, and thankfully, much more comfortable to be so close with than other people. Usually, Ryan can only take it for a few moments before he has to move away due to the sheer uncomfortableness of it. He typically feels sticky and trapped when cuddling goes on too long, but right now, Connor seems small curled up next to him even though he knows they’re about the same size.

He sighs, and then, very hesitantly, starts running his hand through Connor’s hair. He’d have done it if Connor was still an otter, and if that’s what Connor wants it makes sense to do it. Connor makes a small noise of approval, and Ryan finds the human version much more appealing than the otter one.

“For someone who says they don’t like cuddling, you’re pretty good at it,” Connor says.

“What’s liking it have to do with ability? I didn’t like math, but I still got A’s,” he says, and is gratified when Connor laughs quietly at the joke.

They’re quiet together for some time. Ryan lets his mind drift as he pets Connor’s hair, thinking of all the things he wants to get done before he leaves on another roadie. He even wonders if Connor’s thinking of something similar or if he drifted off to sleep again. Eventually, the quiet is interrupted by Sophie waking, moving about the house and looking for Ryan to feed her.

“Alright, time to get up, Otter Boy,” Ryan says, patting his shoulder to get him to move. “I gotta get you some clothes. I should have brought you some, but I didn’t think about it.”

“It’s okay,” Connor says, staying in bed as Ryan starts pulling out a few things for Connor to wear. “I was an otter at the time.”

Ryan tosses an outfit’s worth of clean clothes onto the bed for him, grabs a few things for himself, and then heads for the exit. “I’m gonna go take care of Sophie.”

Connor comes down after Ryan’s finished feeding her and she’s starting to get antsy for her walk. Connor agrees to walk with them before Ryan takes him back home to Hallsy. They don’t talk about what they had spoken of in the middle of the night.

Ryan leaves Sophie at home to take Connor back to Hallsy’s. Connor spends the whole trip flipping through radio stations, skipping immediately over any talking but not staying too long on anything playing music either. Ryan doesn’t know if it’s a normal thing for him or not so he lets it go for the moment, but he’s definitely hooking up his phone and playing his own music the next time Connor’s in his car.

“Hey, you’re human,” Hallsy says when he lets them in. “How’s it feel to have opposable thumbs again?”

“Great,” Connor says. “I’m gonna get changed, give Nuge his clothes back.”

“You’re not going to be nice and clean them for him?” Hallsy asks, but Connor’s already heading up the stairs.

“I also own a washer and dryer,” Ryan says. “I doubt you know how to use yours still.”

“Slander,” he says. “You gonna tell me what’s up? You’re making that terrible face you do when you have to talk about something you really don’t want to.”

“I’m not making a face,” he argues.

“You are, but that’s not the point. Out with it.”

“Fine,” Ryan says, crossing his arms. “I just talked with Connor about why he’s spending so much time as an otter, and it sounded like he was a little lonely.”

“I don’t see how being a freaky rat helps him make friends,” Hallsy says, and Ryan jabs him in the side.

“That’s part of who he is and you don’t think that that’s maybe not helping?” he asks.

“Okay, okay, I can tone it down,” he says, holding up his hands. “I had noticed that he spent a lot of time on his phone at least when he could use it so I don’t think he’s totally cut off. Are you sure he doesn’t want to spend more time with just you?”

“What? No. That’s not what I said or what he said. He specifically mentioned that he didn’t have people around here, and it’s not like we don’t know how shitty the locker room is.”

“He’s got the other young guys with him. It just takes a little time, and being injured always sucks.”

Ryan gives him a flat look, and Hallsy sighs.

“Fine, yes, I will look out for him and make sure he has enough playdates set up, happy?”

“Yes.”

Connor comes back down the stairs carrying Ryan’s clothes. “I’m just gonna grab a bag,” he says as he passes by them to get into the kitchen.

He comes back after a moment with the clothes in a plastic bag which he hands over to Ryan. “Thanks,” he says.

“Are you gonna stay for lunch?” Connor asks.

“Uh,” Ryan stalls, and Hallsy laughs.

“What he means to say is he has to go home and be a loner and cuddle his dog like a loser,” Hallsy says, laughing.

“Shut up,” Ryan says despite it being exactly what he wants to do. “I do have to take care of Sophie though. Maybe next time, okay?”

“Okay,” Connor says lightly even though it’s obvious he’s disappointed.

Things seem to settle back into normal after that. Connor stops turning into an otter and focuses on actually recovering from his injury. Oilers hockey continues to be Oilers hockey. It keeps getting further and further into winter. The only difference is how much closer Connor seems to Ryan, like physically.

One of the first things Ryan had noticed about Connor was that he was definitely on the more tactile end of the spectrum. Casual touches, bro hugs, sitting next to someone with zero space in between are all of Connor’s favorite things. Ryan wonders occasionally if being an otter made him like that or if he was already like that, but ultimately the more pressing issue is that Connor’s now doing all of that to him. It’s really not any different than what he did as an otter, but Connor is much bigger as a human. An otter trying to hold his hand also doesn’t make his palms get all sweaty.

Ryan doesn’t think it’s all bad or anything, but he feels overwhelmed and flustered by how much and how often Connor tries to touch him when normally he can get most guys to respect his large for a hockey player personal bubble (Hallsy and Ebbsy as well as a few friends from juniors and high school don’t count). About a week into January, he asks Hallsy, “Do you think Connor would be offended if I told him to stop touching me so much? Like, not forever, but like not on Fridays or something?”

Hallsy gives him a long suffering look as if he was the one that did dumb stuff on the regular. “You sure the otter thing wasn’t about you and not like people in general?”

Ryan rolls his eyes. “He would have said if it was.”

“Not everyone is as literal and straightforward as you,” he says.

“Hallsy, we were alone at two in the morning. Why wouldn’t he tell me then?”

“He could have not been ready,” he says then smirks. “Or maybe he just didn’t want to be kicked out of your bed. That’s an important factor you forgot.”

Ryan socks him in the shoulder. “Or maybe he just needs to get back on the ice.”

“Keep telling yourself that,” he says and he still has that dumb smirk on.

Then Ryan takes a puck to the hand, and he’s out for a couple months. His mom comes up to baby him after surgery while he’s really useless. He needs the help not just because he’s down a hand, but also because pain meds make him drowsy and dizzy which is not a great combination for productive thinking or really any kind of thinking. They don’t do much more than hang out on the couch and watch movies with Sophie, but he still misses her when she goes. He cuddles extra with Sophie to make up for it.

A day later, the doorbell rings around noon and when he answers the door, he finds Connor standing on the other side. He holds up a bag of take out that smells great. “I brought lunch. Hallsy said it was your favorite, and I’m really hoping he wasn’t lying.”

“Thanks,” he says, letting Connor in even though he just invited himself over. Mostly because Hallsy didn’t lie like a dick for once, and Connor has basically delivered him manna from heaven.

After he gets his first mouthful of lunch, he tells Connor very emphatically, “I appreciate you.”

Connor blushes and waves it off. “It’s nothing, just brought you lunch.”

“You’re my new favorite teammate, and you should tell Hallsy that,” he continues, and Connor laughs.

Ryan scarfs down the meal because he already can’t remember the last time he ate. Sophie reacquaints herself with Connor while he finishes eating.

“I think she liked you better as an otter,” Ryan says.

Connor scoffs. “I don’t like her better as an otter.”

Ryan smiles. “Sorry Soph, it sounds like you’re stuck with human Connor.”

Connor looks like he might say something but then turns to pet Sophie.

“Any particular reason you decided to bring me lunch?” Ryan asks because he might be half functional on pain meds, but he’s not totally out of it.

Connor shrugs, unevenly, and Ryan can tell he’s about to be fed some bullshit. “No reason. You’re injured, isn’t that reason enough?”

“You know,” Ryan says as he leads the way to the living room and takes a seat. “I’m pretty sure I told you one of the benefits to being human was speaking. I mean, thanks for putting in the effort of showing up while you’re capable of communicating, but where’s your follow through?”

“Are you mad at me for bringing you lunch?” he asks, standing awkwardly halfway to the couch now that he thinks he’s offended Ryan.

“No, I’m telling you I’m not up for,” he stops because he has to think of what words he’s using, “figuring out what you’re really after when I’m on pain meds.”

“Who says I’m after anything?” Connor asks, sitting down carefully. “You took care of me after I got injured. I can’t return the favor without being after something?”

Ryan sighs because he now has the impression he’s backed Connor into a corner which won’t help either of them. He’d have probably handled it better if he weren’t on pain meds, but he can blame Connor for that timing. “Forget it,” he says, picking up the remote for his tv. “Take your time about it.”

He turns on something mindless he can zone out to so they aren’t just sitting in silence while he waits for Connor to do whatever he actually came over for. He curls up on his little corner of the couch and he’s half asleep by the time Connor shifts so that there’s hardly any space between them.

“You were right, sorry,” Connor says quietly like he’s worried someone might over hear him. “I didn’t come over just to return the favor, not that I wouldn’t come over just for that.”

Ryan turns to look at him, and he’s staring down at his knees. “And?”

“And I’d been hoping that coming off IR would mean that I’d be able to spend more time with you, but you got injured instead,” he says, and it seems to take him considerable effort to drag his eyes up from the floor to actually look at Ryan. His nerves are visible all over his face.

“So you thought you’d?” Ryan prompts.

Connor drops his gaze again, but it doesn’t do much to make him look coy. He might be nervous enough for it, but he’s too determined to get what he’s after the way all first overall picks are. Ryan would know. “I thought I’d be smoother than this.”

It’s enough to make Ryan chuckle, and Connor looks up at him again, clearly relieved. Connor clears his throat and says, “Honestly, I came because I wanted to ask if you’d consider dating me because I didn’t want to lose the opportunity while you were injured.”

“Okay,” Ryan says.

“Okay?” Connor asks, surprised. “Okay what?”

“Okay, I’ll date you,” he says, smiling as Connor lights up.

“Okay,” he says, now really pressing up against Ryan’s side. “Wait, did you know I was going to ask something like that when you got all huffy earlier?”

“I did not get huffy,” he argues. “But yeah, I thought it might be something like that.”

“Then if you knew that and that you were going to say yes, why were you so mean about it?”

“I wasn’t being mean. I was trying to get you to get to the point.”

“But why couldn’t you just be like hey I know you’re into me and I’m cool with it instead of getting huffy?”

“I wasn’t huffy, and I didn’t know for sure that was what you were going to do. You could have just like wanted to swear me to secrecy for the otter stuff or something.”

“You were not thinking that,” Connor says, staring him down.

“Okay, I wasn’t, but I couldn’t just undercut you like that. You had to say what you were going to say.”

“Fine,” Connor says with a sigh, like he’s come around to Ryan’s wisdom.

He relaxes back against Ryan’s side, and Ryan finds it much more comfortable now that he’s assured of Connor’s intentions. Connor then carefully maneuvers them so that he’s mostly curled around Ryan. He very gingerly gets his hand under Ryan’s injured hand, lifting up the cast as if he’s testing its weight. He brushes his thumb over the tip of each of Ryan’s fingers. “Your hand’s okay?”

“Yeah,” he says with a sigh even though he’s terribly frustrated with it. It’s as good as it’ll be with it broken. “I’m not about to turn into a deer if that’s what you’re asking.”

Connor laughs softly at that. “I think I could handle it. You know, the whole otter thing is why this even happened. Well, I think I had like a little baby crush on you like as soon as I met you, but it was different after that first time you looked after me as an otter. I just kind of trusted you after that, and that just made the crush worse.”

“Oh,” he says, and he can feel himself flushing. It’s one thing to know that there’s some trust when someone asks you to look after their animal form, but it’s another to hear it.

Connor leans in towards him, and Ryan doesn’t hesitate to kiss him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I meant to get Ryan to turn into a deer, but it was not happening. Anyways,
> 
> hope you enjoyed!


End file.
